Quito

Wandering a gallery is great, but nothing beats a private lesson with the artist himself. Gray-bearded and well-dressed Oswaldo Viteri, born in 1931, is as intriguing and striking as his assemblage of neo-figurative art. Thanks to Gentian Trails custom tours, the famed Ecuadorian painter regularly allows groups into his gallery-like house and tells stories of the inspiration behind his most famous pieces. Though he doesn’t speak English, Viteri, who likes to be referred to as "el maestro," relies on his wife Marta—who has the effervescent personality of a dramatic opera singer—to translate.